Universal Limited is a collective who works to uncover hidden stories in unusual locations. We work collectively to write and design our shows as experiences that are accessible to all. Previously they built the pedicab adventure Tour in Vancouver (premiering as part of the Cultural Olympiad/HIVE 3), Victoria (TheatreSKAM), and Toronto (SummerWorks), telling the hidden histories of previous residents--from First Nations, to waves of immigration, to the current stories buried beneath previously-familiar neighbourhoods.

For JAPANESE PROBLEM Yoshié Bancroft and Joanna Garfinkel set out to tell the unacknowledged story of the Japanese Canadian Incarceration at Hastings Park, interviewing the incredible, resilient survivors and families who are grappling with the legacy of the Incarceration. The creators believe that our country, province, and city’s legacies of racially-motivated uncompensated labour, exclusion and dispersal must never be forgotten.

MANDATE & MISSIONUniversal Limited creates and produces original work, prioritizing collaboration, rigorous research, and the use of our platform to share hidden histories and stories that would otherwise be missed. We reflect and represent the diversity of communities in our world through our art. We will make accessible and affordable work that dismantles colonial art forms and divisions, while showcasing collaborative models of creation, and an inclusive and safe space for assembly and experimentation.

VALUES Taking care: of each other, our audiences, and putting care into our workInclusivity: connection with and in our communityEngagement: our ethics are reflected in our communication, and in our choices, and our engagement in the delights of theatreExperimentation: with form and structures, and with expectationsRigour: to research, to our artistic integrity and to our creations

Since September 2017 we have toured to Kaslo, Burnaby, Steveston, Victoria and Nanaimo, with our remount scheduled for September 2018 at Hastings Park, a stop at Soulpepper in Toronto planned for October 2018, and more tour stops in the works for 2019.